SLA refuses to open key roads in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 August 2010, 05:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupying Jaffna peninsula continues to refuse to open the key roads which it had closed for public use despite repeated requests by governemnt departments, NGOs and public organizations, sources in Jaffna said. The same situation prevails in allowing uprooted families to settle in their properties appropriated by SLA as High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam North. It is alleged that the conflict of interests in these two matters between Northern Province Governor, Major. Gen. G. A. Chandarasiri and SLA Jaffna Commander, Major. Gen. Mahinda Kathurusinghe is the cause of the issues.
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Youth abducted in Valikaamam escapes

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 August 2010, 04:35 GMT]
Two unidentified men stopped a youth on motorcycle Tuesday night in Thellippazhai, located next to the High Security Zone (HSZ) of occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Valikaamam North and abducted him on his motorcycle. The youth managed to escape the abductors and sought protection at Thellippazhai police station, sources in Thellippazhai said. The men could not have abducted the youth without the knowledge of the SLA soldiers present in the place, the sources said.
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Devotees not permitted to stay overnight to continue rituals in Keerimalai temple

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 August 2010, 06:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupying Jaffna peninsula did not allow thousands of Hindu devotees Monday night to continue the religious rituals to their ancestors in the historically famous Keerimalai Nakuleasvaram temple located in the SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam North, sources in Jaffna said. The residents of this area, evacuated 20 years ago by SLA have not been permitted to resettle in their own properties which are under SLA occupation. Earlier in April, SLA had put up notices that no one should pollute the temple pond and the seas around as the area has been declared as a tourist spot. This infringement on religious rights had angered the devotees who gather to perform rites which had been observed by Hindus through ages.
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Odduchuddaan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 August 2010, 21:01 GMT]
The quarry mound
The mound or high ground that remains after quarrying
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Valikaamam uprooted families abandon protest demonstration due to death threats

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 August 2010, 07:21 GMT]
Welfare organizations of Valikaamam North residents expelled by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from their properties twenty years ago cancelled a human chain protest demanding resettlement in their places due to death threats to the key persons of the organizations, sources in Jaffna said. The persons threatened wish anonymity as they fear for their lives. Meanwhile, conflicts between the SLA Jaffna Commander, Major Gen. Mahinda Kathurusinghe and Sri Lanka Minister Douglas Devanda on the issue of resettlement in the outskirts of SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam are causes for the delay in resettlement, the sources further said.
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SLA to construct permanent base in demolished Koappaay Tiger Heroes’ Resting Home site

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 July 2010, 16:27 GMT]
Jaffna Sri Lanka Army (SLA) high command has requested Sri Lanka Electricity Board Jaffna to supply electricity to the site where Tiger Heroes’ Resting Home had stood in Koappaay before being obliterated by SLA recently as it intends to construct a big permanent base for its 512 Division, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, SLA, constructing several bases in Jaffna in haste, forces the uprooted civilians living in the area around the above site to evacuate their dwellings, the affected civilians complain.
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Navaali massacre of 147 Tamil civilians remembered

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 July 2010, 06:11 GMT]
Relatives of the victims and Navaali Church organization observed Friday the fifteenth death anniversary of 147 Tamil civilians including men, women and children who were killed in the indiscriminate bombing by the Sri Lanka Air Force bombers and artillery attack by the Sri Lanka Army on Navaali St Peters Church on 9 July 1998, sources in Jaffna said. Hemalatha Memorial Organization set up in remembrance of Hemalatha, a Village Officer who was killed in the bombing, was jointly engaged in observing the memorial event, the sources added.
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Illegal excavation of limestone threatens ecology of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2010, 04:05 GMT]
Threatening the entire groundwater and fragile ecology of Jaffna peninsula, a private Sinhalese company is engaged in the illegal excavation of limestone in the High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam North while Rajapaksa government refuses to reveal details of this enterprise in the area from Maaviddapuram to Keerimalai where the uprooted residents have not been allowed to resettle for the past twenty years. The indiscriminate excavation of limestone in a 4 sq km area at depths of nearly 40 feet has already caused seepage of sea water and it is feared the area becoming submerged. The underground channels that bring in freshwater to the innumerable aquifers of the peninsula, have an underneath entry into sea adjacent to the locality of the quarries. It is obvious how indiscriminate quarrying and the possibility of seawater coming inside can affect the potable water of the masses.
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Big explosions heard in the outskirts of Palaali east HSZ

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 15:51 GMT]
Residents in Jaffna peninsula were shocked by the deafening explosions heard Monday evening intermittently for nearly an hour from the outskirts of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Palaali, sources in Jaffna said. An official of a de-mining organization said that the explosion could not be due to the destroying of landmines as it was generally rumoured because SLA has not permitted any de-mining in or near its HSZ in Palaali in Valikaamam.
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SLA permits conditional worship in St. Mary’s Church in Valikaamam North HSZ

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 04:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Palaali Military Head Quarters Sunday handed over Oddakappulam St. Mary’s Church located within Valikaamam SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) to the parish priests of the church to conduct services. The permission is given on condition that the devotees should go through the SLA check post to the church in the morning and return in the evening while no one will be allowed to live permanently in the area. There were more SLA officers in the Sunday event held in the said church than civilians, one of the Catholic priests participant said.
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Limestone in Valikaamam HSZ sent to Galle in South

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 May 2010, 16:58 GMT]
Thousands of Southern Sinhalese labourers are engaged in excavating lime stone in the Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam North where its residents had been evicted by SLA, Jaffna MP, Appathurai Vinayagamoorthy accused in a press meet held in Jaffna Thursday. The excavated limestone is taken to the cement factories in Galle in ships and via A9 road, he further said. Government which does not permit the evicted residents of Valikaamam North to resettle in their own places has freely allowed thousands of Sinhalese labourers to work within the HSZ.
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Jaffna SLA blocks efforts to reopen schools, government buildings closed due to war in North

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 May 2010, 17:05 GMT]
A conference is to be held Monday in Ki’linochchi to discuss the reopening of the schools in Vanni which remain closed due to war as the government of Sri Lanka shows that it is trying to restore normalcy in the North, sources in Ki’linochchi said. Meanwhile, the Ministries of Public Administration and Defence are to conduct a conference in Colombo soon to explore ways to reopen the schools and government buildings that are being occupied in the North for ten to twenty years. Jaffna SLA Commander, however, is said to be hindering this move as the opening of the schools and government buildings will call for the resettlement of the people uprooted from Valikaamam North, sources Jaffna said.
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Valikaamam HSZ resettlement issue remains unresolved

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 May 2010, 09:46 GMT]
The issue of resettling families uprooted from their properties by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for the establishment of High Security Zone (HSZ) discussed in a meeting in Thellippazhai Divisional Secretariat Monday was not resolved due to the non-cooperation of the Tamil political leaders, the representatives of the Welfare Organizations for Uprooted Persons (WOUP) who arranged the meeting said. WOUP had requested all the parliamentarians of Jaffna district to raise their voices together to solve the issue, its representatives said.
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Resettlement of uprooted civilians remains rejected in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 May 2010, 11:05 GMT]
The civilians uprooted from Valikaamam in Vadamaraadchi by occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) converting their lands into High Security Zone (HSZ) 20 years ago have lost all hopes despite repeated promises and announcements made by government ministers, officials and Jaffna SLA Commander as SLA authorities continue to deny permission for resettlement, according to A.C. Nadarajah, one of nearly a hundred thousand uprooted persons in Jaffna peninsula. Mr. Nadarajah, a former principal, social activist and the present manager of ‘Yarl Thinakural’ in Jaffna, leads one of the welfare organizations for uprooted civilians in Jaffna peninsula. "It is obvious that the main reason for this predicament is the adamancy of the SLA to vacate the lands and properties confiscated from thousands of families in Jaffna peninsula," Mr. Nadarajah told journalists in Jaffna.
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Attempt to abduct boy in Jaffna foiled

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 17:12 GMT]
A 13-year-old student, of a family of uprooted persons from Valikaamam, staying in Paarvathi refugee camp in Maanipaay managed to escape from his abductors Tuesday when they tried to take him forcibly in a van by crying aloud for help and screaming, sources in Jaffna said. An unknown person on bicycle had requested the boy to take him to an address and taken him to the van waiting to take the boy away. The boy, in his statement to the police, said that he saw two boys lying with hands and feet bound inside the van when the abductors tried to force him inside. Maanipaay police, however, did not entertain the complaint made by his parents and their fellow refugees, the sources added.
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Young woman abducted, sexually abused in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 15:32 GMT]
Two young men in Chu’n’naakam area in Valikaamam abducted Monday a young woman who had come from an internment camp in Vavuniyaa to visit her uncle in Chu’n’naakam and sexually abused her, sources in Jaffna said. The woman had managed to escape Tuesday morning from where she was held in the night and told what had happened to her to local people. The local people with the help of the hand phone which the young men had taken from the woman caught the two men and gave them a severe beating, the sources said.
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41 percent polling cards remain undelivered in Jaffna electorate

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 April 2010, 17:29 GMT]
Only 4, 27,164 (59%) polling cards of the total 7,21,359 polling cards of Jaffna electorate which consists of the districts of Jaffna and Ki’linochchi have been delivered to voters through post offices, Jaffna Government Agent (GA) said in a press meet held in Jaffna Secretariat Saturday. However, arrangements have been made for them to get their polling cards until 4:00 p.m on the voting day, he added. Steps have been taken to transport the uprooted Vanni voters held in Vavuniyaa detention centres from 8:00 a.m to 10:00 a.m to vote in the cluster voting booths on the election day, the GA informed on being reminded that there were allegations that the voters in the detention centres were not transported to vote in the last Presidential election.
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Mahinda Rajapakse displeased with Jaffna election meeting

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2010, 11:01 GMT]
Despite efforts by Minister Douglas Devananda and the candidates of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) it was possible to bring in only less than 400 persons to attend the propaganda meeting in which Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse participated Thursday in Jaffna Duraippah Stadium, sources in Jaffna said. Mahinda Rajapakse appeared disturbed and displeased on seeing a small crowd and delivered an address which failed to cover the much expected and vital issues like political solution, resettlement of uprooted families in Valikaamam North in Sri Lanka Army occupied High Security Zone (HSZ) and restoring normalcy in Jaffna peninsula.
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Elderly woman knifed to death in Valikaamam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 2010, 16:32 GMT]
Unknown persons broke into the house of an elderly woman living alone in A’laveddi in Valikaamam Monday midnight inflicted injuries to her chest and neck with sharp objects killing her, sources in Jaffna said. Many elderly persons, forced to live alone in their houses in Jaffna peninsula due to family members being uprooted from their places, fall victims to robbers, the sources added.
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